What are some key external labor challenges companies are facing today?

Jon: The traditional contingent side of things is relatively well-known and mature, but when you try to combine services as an extension of the workforce, we’ve found that a lot of organizations struggle to make that connection. The talent angle is usually through a managed program (typically an MSP model)—shared by Procurement or HR. When talking about services spend, Procurement owns the process through which services are acquired, or in some cases it’s disseminated out into the business. But most organizations struggle with the complexity of this category. Spend management is one thing, but the more strategic objective is to orient and enable organizations around total workforce methodologies to figure out what type of labor is optimal to do the work that needs to get done.

Sue: It varies by company. For some, it’s the spend, which is a huge part of total labor costs. For some, it’s the ongoing source of capacity to fill labor requisitions; and for others, it’s dealing with expected demand of when to bring people on and how long to keep them. So, it’s important to have an entity like QuantumWork Advisory who can understand the objectives of the business and rationalize those with people, process, and technology. Combine that with the Sapience platform to gain visibility into actual time worked to help control costs and many of the challenges are addressed.

Why should your business care?

There are a number of different reasons why companies would choose to bring either QWA or Sapience in and one of those is around cost-savings opportunities. Pairing our DocuSift® SOW diagnostic capability with Sapience, we can add another layer of very useful data and information into how effectively you are contracting and ultimately utilizing your external workforce. Sourcing and contracting are only half-baking it. Evaluating supplier performance on a strategic level is something companies should be focusing on to ensure they’re achieving optimal value and not over-paying. Our partnership with Sapience is a great enabler of looking at the strategic levers associated with cost management and utilization of the right type of external worker.

Sue: Sapience’s data insights can help customers identify which option is best for them, either buying an hour of time or a specific output. It can change the way the customer discusses their needs with the supplier. What we’re doing is taking something intangible, a work hour, and making it tangible. We present accurate data to the customer regarding resource work time and enable a tangible comparison to the supplier provided timecard. As a result, companies can easily and accurately confirm whether the company is getting full value from their contingent workforce.

Why the QuantumWork/Sapience partnership now? How does it disrupt the market and add value?

Jon: QuantumWork Advisory is a unique consulting firm exclusively focused on workforce problem areas and the associated, enabling technology. Sapience is the only technology solving for some glaring problems around spend within this space, yet very unaddressed. So, the marriage of the advisory capability and the technology delivers a comprehensive solution that is truly unique in the market. With the rising utilization of and dependence on the external workforce, not to mention the associated cost, this is the time! There is a talent problem and in these economic times saving money is paramount. Instead of cutting headcount as a knee-jerk reaction to cost pressures, there are other ways to save money, better utilize available talent, and optimize the acquisition and management process.

Sue: Why not now? A big part of the information we provide relates to not paying for something you didn‘t get. But there is a bigger part that says the resources within your business carry a tremendous amount of domain knowledge about the company such as how it works, how stuff gets done, processes for workflow, and relationships within the organization. That tribal knowledge is hard to replace. We along with QuantumWork Advisory believe that with the right people, processes, and data in place, business leaders are able to put investment to better use.

QuantumWork Advisory and Sapience have come together to revolutionize how companies approach external labor spend. Our customers will benefit from the collaborative power of two experts, including strategic workforce design knowledge as well as innovative technology eco-systems and data analytics programs that enable maximum informed decision-making. Unlock your business’ potential with a state-of-the art procurement model designed by these leading authorities. Learn more about QuantumWork Advisory. Learn more about Sapience Analytics.